Films in Catalan enjoy best year at box office since 2003

Catalan-language cinema is experiencing its best year at the box office in over two decades.

A total of 927,506 tickets were sold for films in Catalan between January 1 and November 24, according to Comscore data provided by the Catalan Institute for Cultural Companies (ICEC) and analyzed by the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

The figure – which includes original versions in Catalan, as well as those in other languages dubbed or subtitled in Catalan – is approaching one million tickets sold for the first time since 2003, with five weeks to go before the end of the year.

The box office success is mainly driven by 'A House on Fire' ('Casa en Flames') and 'The 47' ('El 47').

In fact, these two films account for the vast majority of the more than 700,000 moviegoers who have watched original Catalan-language version films this year, a record high since figures were first published in 1997.

The director of the Catalan Film Academy, Laia Aubia, described the figures as "historic."

The 2024 data consolidates a trend that began two years ago, she told ACN.

"We are reaping the fruits of public policies. This shows that we are losing the complex around using Catalan to create works that aim to reach a large audience," she said.

From dubbed to original

The peak for cinema in Catalan was reached in 2003, when it attracted 1,073,898 people to theaters.

The circumstances, however, were very different, as there were more moviegoers in general.

Furthermore, almost nine out of ten tickets to watch movies in Catalan that year were for dubbed films.

This year's figures are mainly down to original versions, drawing 702,707 people, an unprecedented figure.

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